Stuart Appleby won the season opening Mercedes Championship after surviving a late challenge from Vijay Singh in Hawaii. Appleby led throughout the final round but was made to sweat down the stretch before recording a one-stroke victory in strong winds on Maui's Kapalua Plantation course.
The 32-year-old Australian shot a steady 71 to finish at 22-under-par 270, while Singh carded a 70. Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland was third, five strokes off the pace. Tiger Woods tied for fourth with South Africa's Retief Goosen at 277 before declaring he would have a long break before starting his 2004 season in earnest.
Appleby claimed 1,060,000 US dollars for the biggest pay-day of his career and his fifth PGA Tour triumph. He qualified for this winners-only event by capturing the Las Vegas Invitational last October.
Appleby started the day two shots ahead of Singh and the lead never shrunk until the final hole. He picked up four birdies and a bogey on the front nine to open a six-shot lead but bogeyed the 12th before Singh reeled off three straight birdies to cut the gap to two shots with two holes left.
Singh missed a golden birdie chance at the 17th, and a birdie at the final hole proved too little, too late as Appleby made a tap-in par for victory.
Filed by Johnny Proby
